Galactic Nexus/Episode 1: Paradoxical Consequences
Paradoxical Consequences is the first episode of the first season of Galactic Nexus. Roleplay The multiverse of Galactic Nexus—it is where three galaxy groups are floating as masses of stars bringing light to a dark, empty expanse. The largest of them was the Local Group, where the well-known Milky Way, or Via Lactea, is found. Next in size was Mystellata, where the galaxy Mystelhedron is known for providing shelter to various enhanced hominids. The last but not the least was a small unnamed group of around ten small galaxies which brimmed densely with life. But it was at a certain moment that the multiverse changed. A spatial ripple reverberated in insane speeds across the empty expanse. It was unnoticeable to the commons, but it was a hair-trigger to the blessed, especially those who are attuned to time and space. And looks like the ripple originated from... Mystellata. Zooming in at light-speeds, the planet of Crystialga could be seen revolving around a yellow-white sun. Slowly zooming in further, patches of scorched earth charred the surface—a sign of destruction. A hand stretched forth towards several figures standing in silent opposition towards her. A turbulent sphere of black energy was shot towards them, leaving a wispy trail of orange energy. Before it could hit them, among them was a black figure shielding itself before an intense flash of light washed over the area. And before they knew... A tall young man with charcoal-black hair accompanied with streaks of turquoise strands was lying on the grass, unconscious. As sunlight slapped his face, he slowly opened his turquoise eyes. As sunlight flooded his vision, he instinctively covered his eyes with his hand. He slowly sat down and looked around while he dusted off his clothes. He wore a white round-neck tee with the word "GROSTALLIA" printed in serif, along with an image of a green forest, on the front, and stretchable khaki pants complementing a pair of black sports shoes, each with three turquoise stripes on the side. A grassland. But not like any grassland he has seen before. "Where... am I...?" he silently mouthed. The grassland that the tall young man has landed is infact from another planet that is called Planet Mobius, home to the many mobians across the world. Among them were 3 mobians, one is a female black skunk with black hair, fur, a white Skunk stripe on from her back to the tip of of her fluffy tail, dressed in dark purple with red rose coloured gloves & Boots, practicing her magic which consists of summoning purple coloured magic orbs, during her meditation, while remembering the past memories of an Ancient mobian dimension of past ancient friends having departed years ago. The second one is an orange hedgehog with long sharp quills, a minor ammount of Tiger stripes on his head, tan muzzle, arms & belly, recently wearing a black & green variant of clothes, occasionally wearing midnight blue & sky blue variant of clothes when he is in his practice of the water element, studying to master the water element ever since he was gifted by a Hydromancer spell book, during the Ancient mobian Dimension's departure. And last but not least, is the third mobian who happens to be a purple hybrid combination of a Fox & a skunk with black hair, blue eyeshadow, white muzzle & blue belly, wearing mostly black with lunar colours that are dark blue & purple that resembles the beautiful starry night sky. She was formerly an evil being, until her reformation, after seeing & admitting the error of her ways, now willing to use her dark magic, that is now her brand new lunar magic for good to correct the wrongs she had done in the past. She even have the hobby of crafting & creating different kinds of potions. The Female Skunk who was meditating while practicing her magic, whispered "Josh... Yuki... and all of the Ancient Dimension, you will not be forgotten. We will miss you dearly." "Civilization...! Didn't expect to see several just when I opened my eyes..." he thought. "Wait..." With silence, he observed what they were doing in the middle of a grassland under broad daylight. What a strange sight it was to his gleaming turquoise eyes. "Anthropomorphs... And they have a connection to the supernatural. I wonder if they do speak—preferably in a tongue similar to mine." Without wasting time, he approached the orange Mobian hedgehog with unnoticeable wariness. "Excuse me... Could you tell where I am now...?" The Orange Hedgehog turned to the man & is surprised to see someone like him on Mobius, a bit out of place no less. "Girls? I think we got company..." The Skunk stopped meditating as she & the FoxSkunk both turned to the man & approached to him by the orange hedgehog's side, feeling a bit self defensive. "To answer your question, sir. This is Planet Mobius." the skunk said with a calm tone, but a bit cautious with the three, unsure if he is friend or foe. The FoxSkunk is also cautious as she said to the man "Now please answer our question. Are you friend or foe?" "They speak the universal tongue too...! As expected..." he reacted in his thoughts. "... I mean no harm. I just got here after fighting a strong enemy. I don't know how I ended up here though..." The Skunk lowers her guard down, while she gestures to the hedgehog & foxskunk with a downward wave of her hand to signal the two to lower their guard down as well, in which they did. With a cute smile slowly appearing from her face, the Skunk said "Apologies for being a bit self defensive. We were recently recovering from bizarre dreams last night. My name is Patricia the Skunk. And this is Jack the Hedgehog & Layla the FoxSkunk." Layla the FoxSkunk smiled a bit at the young man, while Jack the Hedgehog extended his hand to offer a handshake to the young man, while he holds the new Hydromancer book with his other hand. The young man let out a sigh of relief. He smiled heartfully, eagerly accepting the handshake. "... Frisch Celerent. I hail from a distant planet named Crystialga." "Wow, Crystialga. That sounds like it is a very far away & yet interesting planet." said the FoxSkunk in amazement, who is also interested. "Anyway, it is a pleasure to meet you, Frisch." Said Patricia as Jack shakes Frisch's hand, being gentle. "... Likewise." Frisch seemed to have something in mind, evident from a single nod. "... You mentioned something about bizarre dreams. What about them?" Layla giggled nervously & said "Hehe, well... yes. You see, it all started last night..." As she explained the story by flashbacks, the three had experienced bizarre dreams of an empty void, filled to the brim with Chaos energy & an unknown being of dangerous untold power, while feeling the power of the Chaos Emeralds slowly reacting to its presence for a moment when they wake up from their horrendous nightmare that felt so real to the three. "I had been having this dream when I was alone in this big empty void, sensing a lot of chaos energy within the void & a shadowy being with dangerous amounts of untold power. We don't know what or who it was. But one thing is for certain that the chaos emeralds are slowly reacting to its power when I woke up, but I thought I was the only one that had a horrible experience, until Jack & Patricia explain the same thing to me." said Layla, while in deep thought of the dream with the two. "... I apologize for having you recall your hideous dream. But one thing is for certain—the mention of Void matches who I think it might be." "You really think so?" Asked Jack, a bit fearful that this dream that he, Patricia & Layla had is becoming more like a vision. "... I am. Dreams are easily lost in the sea of the mind. But you managed to remember, not even doubting what you saw in that dream. Which means it might be a premonition of the Hollow Empress' arrival. Just as when we were fighting her, I ended up here." Suddenly amidst their conversation something zooms on the attack with a hiss, when the turn to look they see a serpenoid being with its fangs dripping with venom raring to attack, "FOR THE GLORY OF THE SERPENTEN EMPIRE," The being yells out before preparing to strike. Layla we're surprised with the group & got into fighting positions "Ok, I know for a fact that these snakes are not friendly...!" Said Layla with determination, getting ready to fight the Serpentine Empire with Patricia, Jack & Frisch. "Frisch, seems like we'll talk about this, Hallow Empress you speak of, later. Right now, Mobius needs to be defended from invaders." said Patricia, while she is also getting ready. The Serpenten Soldier hisses at them with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, " What form of Apocalian Black Magic is this?" It charges at them without a second thought with war cry. Patricia quickly begins to cast a number of magical orbs to launch straight at the Serpentine Soldiers for a defensive attack, while Layla lashes out her lunar magic at the charging snakes as well. Even Jack quickly curls up into a ball, revving up for a spindash & unleashes his spindashes at the Serpentine as well, while hopefully he can put his new water abilities to the test soon. The Serpentens hiss angrily at their strong defense, the ones that got wet are visible steaming from their high body temp. While the Mobians were distracted by the serpentine assailants, Frisch had disappeared without a trace. But how...? One of the serpentens spots the lack of enforcements and smugly smirks at then, "It would seem that your new allies have abandoned you to your fates," it says flicking his tongue out at them, " We will enjoy conquering this kingdom." Or so they thought. A large dense sphere of wispy turquoise energy descended from the blue sky. It homed towards the Serpentens in an attempt of knocking them away from the three Mobians before landing in the middle of the fight. They hiss angrily at the surprise attack and try to retaliate. Emerging from the sphere was actually a figure standing at 5'11" donning a jet-black body suit under a jet-black coat. Etched on the mystical fabric were glowing turquoise lines which were seen all over the entity. A jet-black helmet with the upper lines forming what is reminiscent of clock hands concealed their face. These helmet lines formed an intricate depiction of what seemed like the character for king (王). "Exalt!" a feminine voice reverberated in the air. Turns out the source was someone who seemingly appeared out of thin air—a young woman with rosy white skin, flowing wavy lavender hair, and gleaming aquamarine eyes. She wore a charcoal-black robe which covered most of her body, except two sections of her arms and everything under the upper three-fourths of her thighs. Under them were partially concealed by the sheer part of her robe, as well as a pair of sheer stockings that exposed a considerable bit of absolute territory. "The one who shall inherit all Precepts as the ruler and savior of past, present, and future. For he is the Harvester, and his advent shall open a new page in this planet's history!" The Three Mobians we're surprised by these turn of events, but they remain focused on fighting the best they can against the Serpentine Army, while Patricia & Layla continue casting more of their purple / lunar magic to keep on blasting at the angry serpents, in desperate to counter attack. The Male Orange Hedgehog, who was casting a high pressured water beam at the Serpents, said to Layla in a surprise tone. "Since when can they perform a lot of powerful new abilities? That's amazing." "Thank you for the assistance, to the both of you." Said Patricia who was surprised at first, but calming down a bit, thanking both of their saviours. The young woman bowed slightly in acceptance of their gratitude, and in behalf of the Harvester. "You are welcome." This figure called the Harvester snapped his fingers as wispy turquoise energy clumped together to materialize into a glaive. After making a firm grip on its handle, he gathered angular momentum by spinning it. From the last spin shot forth a large crescent-shaped projectile made out of wispy energy in an effort to mow down their foes. The three Mobians look around to see if there are any more Serpents to deal with or did they & the Harvester get them all. "Is that all of the Serpents? We can't be too sure if we get them all." Asked Jack. "More importantly, where did our new friend go?" ask Layla while looking around to see where Frisch has gone off to, as Patricia began to think on where have the Serpents are coming from & who is the Harvester. They retreat after seeing the Harvester hissing an audible threat, as they retreat a shadow rushes past sending chlls down their spines, "Its the King of the Arena, flee for your lives!" The young prophetess blinked. Who is this King of the Arena these Serpentens are referring to? She wondered. The Harvester let out a raspy sigh. The futuristic armor and weapon slowly dissipated into fleeting turquoise particles, revealing Frisch underneath. How did it come to this? He also wondered. He is not the only alien who ended up in Mobius but also these serpentine invaders. What exactly happened when he was back at Crystialga? No one really knows. "Frisch, it is you! That's a new transformation we haven't seen before" said Patricia, realising that the Harvester is Frisch. Frisch simply nodded in confirmation. "Ok, but I gotta ask, who are these Serpents & their king? And whats going on here?" Asked Jack who he has so many questions about everything relating to the Hollow Empress. A gladiator sword flew right past the prophetess, taking a couple of hair strands before impaling a fleeing Serpenten. She felt the narrow breeze from the sword's flight, prompting her to check who was behind them. "Looks like my question was answered." "...?" Frisch raised an eyebrow. He then looked back to see who she was referring to. "I think we're just getting started." said Layla pointing to another figure walking towards them. A being in dark Centurion armor walks past them with his twin tails swaying as he walked to collect his Gladius, and as he picked it up he finishes the Serpenten, "Thumbs Down." He turns around to see them and bows his head, "Apologies for the rude introductions here but I could risk his escape. The Apocalian Military and Royal Family extends their deepest apologies for involving you in this war." "... I see, I see... So it's not just me, but also you and the ophidians. With all the coincidences among aliens, I can confirm this incident is wide-scale." "Did the centaur said Apocalian? Patricia, does Darkstorm know about all this, our centaur ally & the Serpentine?" Asked Layla, knowing the Apocalian is related to Darkstorm. Patricia answered with a soft spoken tone, knowing the danger has passed for now. "I believe so. But right now, we all need to calm down & figure this through together & all about this Hollow Empress that our new friend, Frisch has mentioned before that relate to all this & our bizarre visions & the Chaos Emeralds." "You might be right. Think it's best we take our new friends to Darkstorm & gather up there. Hopefully the rest of the Freedom Fighters might give our new friends the warm welcome, when we get there." said Jack, since the three have met Darkstorm & even the Ancient Dimension before & knowing the situation is similar, but was taken to the next level with unknown dangers of the Hollow Empress & other worldly enemies being involved. The prophetess nodded in agreement. "A sound decision. Master Altus, your judgment on the matter?" "... I agree with them. Now we just need to gather." Patricia, Jack & Layla then led Frisch & the prophetess, as well as the armoured centurion & the other allies to the halfbreed Darkstorm's location, somewhere around the Freedom Fighters' location. At the same time, the three mobians are giving them a tour around Planet Mobius to help the new guests get settled in on their stay until the Hollow Empress' situation is solved. "... Doesn't seem too different from our world," commented Frisch along the way. The Centurion looks at the group before turning his attention to the mobians tilting his head curiously, "Forgive me for being a little blunt with this inquiry but how do you know the Drak'Vorkata," he asks as he sheathes the Gladius and fixing his Cape, "Are you friends of his?" Patricia, Jack & Layla nodded yes, since they are friends with Darkstorm for a long time. "Yep. He's friendly once you get to know him." Said Jack with a smile. "He should be," the centurion says as he takes his helmet off and looks at them, "He's my father after all." "How interesting. Darkstorm would be happy to see you." said Patricia as the group arrive at Darkstorm's war camp. Jack begins to knock on the door to Darkstorm's door, saying "Hello, Darkstorm? We've got new friends we want you to meet, since we have a bit of a situation." Darkstorm looks at his friends and his son, " Bakuu report." Bakuu walks up to his father and kneels, "The Serpentens have definitely gone through the rift as we did, it stands within reason that Serpina followed them here," upon hearing this Darkstorm rubs his chin before turn to look at his friends and smiling, I see you all met my son," Darkstorm says as he walks towards them and gives a big bear hug as his right-hand walks into view, " Time and place my lord, we have a war to win." "Very Well Kiva you kill joy," Darkstorm says with a smile and walks into the "war council" before turning to look at his friends and the new arrivals to the camp, "Want to join us Jack, Layla, and Patricia?" Frisch shrugged ever so lightly. He spoke no words, unless necessary. As such, he glanced at the three Mobians to go to Darkstorm. The prophetess, on the other hand, acted upon the unspoken rules of her master. "You bet, our good friend." Said Jack with confidence, feeling like it's a chance to work on his new water element powers. "Okie dokie, while we're on the subject of the Hollow Empress situation. We can also deal with the Serpent problem as well." Said Patricia, knowing that they can all work together. "You know it, Darkstorm. More opprotunites to work on my new lunar magic. It's a long story of our new abilities." said Layla, who had practiced a bit of lunar magic in her time of her reformation. As the three mobians join with Darkstorm, Frisch & the Prophetess. Frisch heard no mention of himself. Neither did the prophetess. To get clarification, the young man approached the three for a discreet question. "... Should I and my companion get involved? It's just you three, after all. If we're not, then we'll be waiting for further instructions." Patricia answered "Sure, you & your friend can also join in too, Frisch. We could use all the help we can get. We're sorry for not being specific earlier." Frisch briefly let out a soft smile. "... Not your fault but sure, I'll pretend nothing happened back there. Let's go then." "Yes, Master Altus," the prophetess confirmed with a discreet bow. Patricia smile as she, Jack & Layla head out with Darkstorm, Bakuu, Frisch & the Prophetess to enter inside the camp, while they prepare for the next oncoming fight against the Serpents. Darkstorm walks with his friends and their newest allies into the "war council" where his top General and Right-Hand wait for him, "Ladies and Gentlemen allow me to formally introduce my Right-Hand Kiva Dolomar and my General Kaiter Vosoka," Darkstorm says as the two bow there heads in respect, "His majesty told us many a story about you," Kiva says before looking at the Harvester and the Prophetess, "You two we have not encountered, to where do your allegiances lie? Brotherhood, Serpenten Empire, Legion of Hellfire?" "Easy Kiva," Darkstorm says trying to be gentle with the situation at hand as he doesn't wish to start another war with an unknown Faction before extending a clawed hand into the Harvesters direction, "Forgive him we are on edge thanks to Queen Serpina's attack on the Capital back home." "... Forgiven," the Harvester spoke. "I am Frisch Celerent. We are allegiant to no one." "My name is Irissia, the Harvester's aide," the prophetess added. "We hail from the planet Crystialga." He retracts his hand when neither of them shake it, "Off worlders," Darkstorm says rubbing his chin, " With no Allegiance. That's a first." Bakuu looks over Celerent, " Are you her Guardian Centurion or a Hunter," He asks rather bluntly before his father steps on one of his tails, "Sorry about that," Darkstorm says glaring at his son. "No problem, I shall answer that. He is my master. Nothing more, nothing less," Irissia replied promptly, a soft smile etched across her supple lips. Jack then turns to Darkstorm & said "Okay, now that introductions are out of the way. What do you say we try to figure out about this Hollow Empress vision that Patricia, Layla & I had last night?" "You see there is this bizzare dream of emptiness, followed by a reaction to the Chaos Emeralds, due to this Hollow Empress individual that we haven't seen before & now as we seen recently, our new friends, plus the Serpents had appeared in our Planet of Mobius this morning." Said Patricia explaining to the situation to the War Council. "Frisch & Irissia, is it? Had recently explained to us that all of it has something to do with this Hollow Empress. Does it sound familiar to anyone?" Asked Layla, needing to know if they know anything about the Hollow Empress & the dimensional transportations to Mobius recently. Frisch, as it was not yet the time to tell everyone about the Hollow Empress, observed what would the reactions of the council be. The prophetess, on the other hand, behaved accordingly as usual. "I doubt they'd know of a primordial Prismatic Spirit wreaking havoc outside Crystialga, which she doesn't, but I'd be surprised if anyone knows her..." he mused in his thoughts. Darkstorm scratches his chin, " I am afraid the individual doesn't strike any real significance other than Queen Serpina and Vorkata Eveburn, the individual known as Hollow Empress was never encountered. However it does not mean that we won't aid you all in this battle." Kiva and Kaiter look at Darkstorm before Kaiter responds, "We are strained as it is. How can we provide support and how do we know that they are not truely in league with the enemy?" he asks with a snarl before getting slugged in the chest by Bakuu. "If my father trusts them then we can as well," Bakuu says before turning to Frisch and kneeling, "My sword is yours to command and legion is ready upon your word." "... Thank you," Frisch offered his gratitude. "Strength in unity, after all." Irissia bowed slowly with grace. "Thank you for lending a hand to the Harvester. He shall treat you well." Darkstorm looks at Jack, Layla, and Patricia as his son pledged his oath. "I will aid you in your fight old friends besides I still have an oldie but goodie to use. I think you will remember it fondly," he says as his arms crackle with electric energy. "Oh we remember this all too well. We did shut down Eggman's electronics with that move of yours. Good times." said Layla with a smile. Frisch glanced at Darkstorm, noticing that discreet display of supernatural power. With a slight nod, he confirmed one way to better assist him in battle. But he had something else in mind. To verify his unspoken speculations, he discreetly focused his gaze upon the electricity arcing from Darkstorm's arms. As Frisch's eyes glowed with a faint light unseen by non-Prismites, he analyzed the behavior of the phenomenon in order to determine whether it was magical, spiritual, or kinetic in nature—or something he has not seen before. All of this was happening within the fraction of a second. He sees that the phenomenon is neither magical, spiritual, or kinetic but pure Natural Lightning, it appears that Darkstorm can not only conjure it but he can manipulate lightning as long as he still has powers. To Frisch, he interpreted it as an advanced form of advanced lightning manipulation. He faintly raised an eyebrow in confirmation. Now he knows the nature of the ability and how foes would counter it. "My lord, need I remind you that using that move in question will leave you powerless for days, we need you at your full strength," Kiva said what seems to be the limits to Darkstorm's power, while Frisch was listening. "You may be an Arc-type but it doesn't mean your power is limitless. Expelling all that energy is just as dangerous for you as it is to them." "I will risk it," Darkstorm says as he removes his Trench coat and extending his wings, "We need every advantage available and my friends need our help." Darkstorm motions to Jack, Patricia, and Layla with his hand, "They protected me when I was left powerless and I trust them to do it again." "... Is that so...?" Frisch added. "Then I shall place my trust on them as well, just as much as they trust us." "Thank you. We will do the best we can to protect our friends. Ever since the departure of the Ancient Dimension. We have been growing more mature & patient & has learned new abilities. As they say, age comes wisdom." Said Patricia. "Indeed my friend. Josh, Yuki & the Ancient Dimension really did taught us a lot since we first met. I already miss them." Said Jack feel a bit of empathy of the memory of their last meeting with the Ancient Dimension. "I know, me too. Even though I had a bit of differences with them in the past. But I had made up for my mistakes & make amends" said Layla, now feeling a bit more embarrassed & guilty of her past actions, but at the same time, relieved of learning her lessons, becoming a better person for it. "... I see, I see..." Frisch confirmed. "But more on that later. We have worlds to protect, what with the presence of the Hollow Empress and the serpentines." From that day onward, there was unity among them. All to restore peace upon their lands. To be continued in the next episode...